


something that almost was

by orro



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Boy Scouts of America, Doomed Relationship, Episode: e033 Cassette, First Dates, Jossed, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 15:57:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orro/pseuds/orro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time they met Earl hauled Cecil behind a barricade of desks to avoid the flames from the classroom trashcan. The first time they met was a lie. They have never met. They have simply always known each other, and there was no other history to tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	something that almost was

**Author's Note:**

> Come say 'hi' on [ tumblr](tumblyorro.tumblr.com) :)
> 
> a/n: re: ep 36 AHAHA JOSSED.

“Earl! You found it!” 

Earl waved to his friend Jeorge who slid off the desk he’d been perched on. The boy waved him over, and he eyed the chemistry teacher with trepidation as he stepped into the room. He’d heard the stories. Jeorge caught his look and shook his head, shaggy blond hair enhancing the effect. 

“Nah, it’s fine. Stories are only true on leap years. We’re fine for this year. Did you get lunch?” 

“I did,” Earl said, and handed him a bag of chips and a can of soda. The other students in the room looked at him enviously but Earl tried to ignore them; if he’d had the money he would have brought some for them as well.

Jeorge whooped in thanks and tore into them, bag and can alike. The remnants of the pizza that had been served for lunch smouldered in the trash can; someone must have ignored Jeorge’s warning, though they clearly had to be regretting doing such a thing. Earl had heard the screams and had left the cafeteria, making a beeline to the vending machines outside the office. Luckily it was a Wednesday; the office tended to be unfindable on Thursdays, and Earl had been really hungry after shoving his way out of the lunch line. 

Jeorge, who had suspected something was going to go down, thanks to his bloodstone granting his a vision of the future for once, had elected to find somewhere else to eat lunch. They were underclassmen and thus were stuck to the campus for lunch, unlike the upperclassmen who could battle the security guards for a chance to get their lunch off campus. Earl had heard the tales of the underclassmen who had tried, and failed nobly in their quest for better wholesome food. It was a chance to really appreciate what one had, the principal said after each failure. 

Apparently the chemistry teacher allowed students to use its room during lunch. How Jeorge had found this out when it taught Chemistry 3-4 and they were still in Chemistry .045 was beyond him. 

Earl slid into a seat, and from across the hexagon of desks, another student smiled at him. Earl smiled back. The trashcan exploded ten seconds later and while they cowered behind a hastily made barricade of desks, he introduced himself as Cecil. Earl had never been so happy for an explosion.

*****

“Hey,” Earl said, thumping the top of Cecil’s head with his notebook. He’d been working on his math the hour before, having mixed up the homework problems. But it was his second class, and he’d ended up just scribbling random numbers, hoping it was an assignment that got graded due to completion rather than accuracy.

Cecil jerked his head up, far more surprised than Earl would have suspected him of being. 

“You’re in my class! Neat!” 

“I sit towards the back so we probably didn’t see each other.” Earl couldn’t help a smile, even though he hadn’t finished his homework and it was too early in the morning for anyone to be chipper. But he’d recognized the back of Cecil’s head as he’d walked in, and the surprise of it was enough that he’d uncharacteristically been forward.

“I thought you were a junior. Didn’t Jeorge say so?”

“I’m definitely a sophomore.” Earl said.

“Do we share other classes? Let me see your schedule.” Cecil plucked the binder from his hands and stared intently at the schedule through the clear front pocket. He sighed in disappointment, which echoed in Earl’s chest. “Nope, just this one. Oh well. One’s better than nothing, right?” He handed it back with a smile. 

Earl nodded and sat down. Cecil turned in his seat to wave at him, and Earl waved back once. He didn’t take his eyes off him throughout the class. And he barely noticed when the teacher frowned at his clearly haphazard work and took away his desk for the day.

*****

“Don’t they kick you out after you become a teenager?” Cecil asked as they waited in line for the vending machines. They had offered to go out during the peril of lunch and bring back food for the rest of their friends.

“What? No.” Earl gave him a look; he was a proud member of the Boy Scouts. Not everyone received the blood red invitation. It was an honor. That’s what he repeated to himself every night as he stared blank eyed into the bathroom mirror. “They did the bit with the wolves at the pep rally yesterday. They’ve got a club here. That’s where I go on Mondays during lunch.”

“They did?” Cecil said, giving him an incredulous look. His eyebrows went up at Earl’s nod and he shrugged. “Huh. I forgot which parts we weren’t meant to remember. Oh no, do you think that means I remembered something I should have forgotten since I forgot something I was supposed to remember?” 

“You don’t look like the Secret Police, who are the backbone of our city and always fair, took you away,” Earl said after looking him over. There was a bit of terror in his expression but that was normal. He fished out a pocket full of coins and counted them over. This particular machine didn’t like pennies or three dollar bills. “I bet they got the wolves from the scrubs. That’s the only place wolves come from around here, right?” 

“Maybe. I dunno.” Cecil was having a staring contest with the last pack of Skittles in the vending machine, as if daring anyone before him in line to take them.

Someone screamed and everyone turned to look. The ones closest were contractually obliged to begin forming a ring around the student who was currently being crushed underneath the drinks machine he’d been trying to shake. They would move from their trance-like state, possibly in time. Or possibly not.

“Was he trying to steal from the machine?” Cecil asked in disbelief. Earl just shook his head and took the chance at being outside the mandatory one foot proximity required to participate and went to the abandoned lines to get to the soda machine.

All of the upperclassmen started muttered all at once about ‘stupid freshmen’. Everyone knew that particular machine hated scammers. Now, the snack machine, as long as you gave it a juicy bit of gossip, it’d accept a penny in place of a dollar.

*****

“Mom, tell him to stop screeching, he’s embarrassing me,” Cecil wailed through the telephone. 

Earl held the phone away, having anticipating the noise and ignoring the way his parents smouldered. Well, his mom was smouldering and fizzing with smoke. His dad had left the room to give him the illusion of privacy. The secret police, as always, were sitting on the window sill, photosynthesizing. If you believed in plants, anyway. 

“I’m so sorry,” Cecil apologized. “You know how brothers are. Well, I guess you don’t, and let me tell you, Earl, you are lucky! So lucky! Wait, hold on. Mom! He’s staring at me! Make him stop!” 

Earl heard a loud screech and then the line cut out for a moment. When Cecil came back it was distinctly quieter. 

“Okay, we’re alone now. Well, my mom is still here, but she sent my brother to his room. Ugh, I hope he doesn’t eat the bedsheets again. Or worse, hide them.” 

“It’s okay,” Earl said, shuffling in his chair to avoid his mom’s look. She was sitting across from him at the table, and Earl was really hating that the phone was out where he had to talk in front of everyone. “My mom’s here too. Uh, I mean, she’s definitely not here. Definitely not.” 

He could practically hear Cecil’s grin. 

“Totally not there. Tell her I said ‘hi’ when she decides to be there again.” 

“Cecil says ‘hi’,” he said to his mom, blinking as the smoke turned blue. “She says ‘hi back’. And wants to know how your mom is doing.” The smoke began to smell like ice and turned black. “I mean, if she were here, she’d say hi and ask how your mom’s doing.”

Cecil groaned and for the next ten minutes, passed the messages between them, until Cecil’s mom stopped answering, citing the stars being in the wrong position to continue the conversation. Earl’s mom seemed to agree, and she puffed an alternated orange and pink in warning at him before leaving the table, giving him a rare chance alone while on the phone. She probably knew what he wanted to talk to his friend about. 

“They should just call each other,” Cecil grumped quietly and before Earl could agree with him, he jumped right into what he wanted to say. “Did you listen to this yesterday’s radio broadcast? Leonard was talking about the dangers of laundry lines. Laundry lines! I had never thought of that!” 

“I missed it. Scout Master Karl called an emergency meeting yesterday.” 

“Are you forbidden from discussing it? Can you tell me? Please tell me you can tell me, you can’t say things like ‘emergency’ and not share, Earl, you know that!” 

“No, I can. Sort of. It doesn’t matter. The crow that delivers signs came to his house last night and it had the names of the scouts picked for the Wilderness Trail trip.” 

“Did you get picked?”

Earl didn’t say anything for a long moment. He stared at the table, running his thumbnail against the raised decorative edge. His lack of answer was answer enough, but he still had to say it.

“No.”

“It was a stupid trip anyway,” Cecil said right away. Earl could practically see him, sprawled out on the sofa, vibrating with excitement, and then suddenly still at the sombering news. Earl had been looking forward to the trip for weeks, certain that he was going to get picked. Eagle Scouts usually were. 

Earl pressed his hands to his eyes. He was not going to cry. He was just frustrated. Most of the Eagle Scouts would be going on the trip and now he was going to be stuck at home. 

“I should have probably been Weird Scout. I bet I would have been picked if I’d had more badges. But my dad doesn’t let me go to the scrublands all the time, and I’ve been missing out on those expeditions-”

“No way, it’s a stupid trip. You’ve got better things to do.” Cecil said firmly. “You’re a great Boy Scout. The Scoutmaster is just a jerk. He’s playing favorites.” 

“It’s normal to play favorites,” Earl said, tracing his fingers over the flimsy paper pamphlets for the trip. He really ought to throw the things away but he just couldn’t yet. The faces of the smiling Boy Scouts mocked him.

“Maybe. But you also have to reward people on their actions, right? I mean, this is America! We believe in hard work! You should demand to know why he didn’t pick you.”

“That’s- no, that’s not me.” He ran his thumb over the Silence Badge. He’d worked hard to get it, and his parents had been so proud of him. His dad had been so proud, he’d taken them out for dinner, and finally let Earl try the Mysterious Dinner Plate Special at Horatio’s, the second fanciest diner in Night Vale. Most Boy Scouts didn’t earn that particular badge ever. 

“If I were the Scoutmaster, I would have totally picked you,” Cecil said, sounding dejected on his behalf. 

“Thanks, Cecil.” Earl could almost smile at the thought of Cecil drooping in his chair. “Really.”

“You totally deserved it. You’re like, everyone knows you’re a great scout.”

Earl flushed a little and cast about for a distraction.

“So, uh, what happened during the show? I had to miss it and well-”

“Oh it was perfect!” Cecil said. He was probably sitting up now, free hand flailing in his excitement. “Leonard talked about the void, well, he said he thought about talking about the void but that even the mere thought of it sent him into an existential depression and he didn’t break out of it till he’d eaten a slice of Sammy’s Ultimate Sliceria. We even have the same favorite pizza, can you believe it?” 

Earl finally smiled and rested his chin on the table. 

“It’s pretty good pizza. What else did he say?” And Cecil seemed to know that Earl was done talking for the night, because he went on for a straight hour, explaining every detail of the show, even right down to the commercials. Earl drifted, the sound of Cecil’s voice in his ear the exact comfort he needed. 

*****

Cecil peered at the sun. The blue helicopters were overhead, and Earl would have sworn that they waved back after they had. It was hard to see them so high up in the sky though. Cecil looked back at him and then back down at the bucket full of rocks and plants that Earl had collected. 

“My mom says I have to be home before it gets dark. Otherwise I’ll be in trouble.” 

“We’ll be fine.” Earl picked another stone and stabbed it with his regulation switchblade. The stone oozed pink sludge and Earl sighed and tossed it. He needed one with purple or green. Those were dust bunnies’ favorite colors and if he caught one, he’d earn the Cleanliness Badge. 

Cecil picked a rock up and eyed it before handing to Earl for checking. It oozed white sludge. Earl chucked it as hard as he could even as Cecil watched him. Cecil didn’t say anything. He stopped picking up rocks and watched him, blinking slowly.

“I want to be an Weird Scout, and go on the trip, that’s all,” Earl said despondently. 

“You will,” Cecil said, adamantly. He bent down and scooped one up. “Here, try this one.” 

Earl stabbed it and stared at it for a moment, the green sludge spilling over his fingertips. 

“You’re like a lucky charm,” Earl said in wonder. 

“Oh please don’t curse me like that,” Cecil said, worriedly. He glanced back up at the helicopter but it hadn’t moved in a suspicious fashion.

“No, I, I just mean I’ve been looking for one for ages. And you just picked it up,” Earl said, still enraptured by the green staining his fingertips. 

“Leonard says that sometimes when we need something the most that’s when it shows up but not before. Mostly it shows up late. You gave horrible directions, you know. Get a map.”

Earl smiled at that, and at seeing Earl’s smile, Cecil grinned. 

*****

Earl blinked at the phone and stared at it, wondering if it was behaving transdimensionally. Jeorge’s air conditioning unit had been and he’d spent most of lunch complaining today about the way it teleported, leaving them sweltering in the September heat until it would pop back. The shrieks the phone had given off suggested something could be possibly wrong with it. 

The phone began ringing and Earl picked it up. 

“Ugh,” Cecil groaned into the phone. “Sorry. My brother recognized your number. He was keeping the phone away from me.” 

“Oh, it was your brother.” He really ought to have recognized the pitch by now. He’d never get the Wildlife Sound Identification badge at this rate. 

“Yeah, ugh, Mom went to the store and my brother said he didn’t want to go. He pointed out that we’re both totally old enough to be on our own. Gin, the secret police in charge of our home, he said it’s not illegal, especially since we made it past elementary school. So Mom left him and I was ignoring him but then you called. What’s up?”

Earl stuck his finger into the twisted cord of the phone and took a deep breath to try to keep his voice from wavering.

“Do you wanna go see a movie or something?” 

“Oh sure! What’s on? The last time I went all of the movies had been pulled by the Secret Police for encouraging too much free thought. We ended up watching static. Which was still very good, but I’d been looking forward to one of those movies. Not that I remember it anymore. The City Council rendered that unknowable so I forgot it, like I was supposed to. I thought Jeorge couldn’t go out on Saturdays after that thing with his sister? Is it-”

“I meant just you and me,” Earl blurted out. The moment Cecil had mentioned Jeorge his stomach had dropped at having been misunderstood. Now that he had said it, he felt his stomach continue dropping, though for entirely different reasons. 

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Cecil’s voice went up an entire pitch.

For a moment he could have said no, that it was all a joke. That obviously he was going to invite the rest of their friends. There was still time to take it back. But the Courage in the Face of Uncomfortable Social Events was a badge on his sash for a reason.

“Yes. Yes. I am. Yes.” 

Cecil inhaled deeply and Earl pulled the phone away, expecting a scream. Instead he got a low moan, so quiet that he almost missed it. 

“Wait what-?”

“Yes, let’s go out on a date!” There it was.

“Okay.” Earl said, dazed. It was going to take him a while to register that Cecil said yes. “Um. Okay. So, uh, tomorrow, at the seven o’clock?” 

“Sure! Let me ask my mom when she gets back. I’m sure she’ll say yes.”

“Good. Great. Uh, okay. Um. Yeah.” 

“Till tomorrow!” Cecil said, and promptly failed to place the phone properly, so Earl could hear him. By the sounds of it, Cecil was performing some sort of celebratory dance, complete with shrieks and screeches. 

Earl hung up and looked up to see his dad suddenly sitting across from him at the table.

“Hi Dad?” 

He took off his nose with a squelch and tapped it fourteen times against the table before smashing it back onto his face. Earl sighed and sat back in his chair. Time for The Talk. No wonder his mom hadn’t been hanging around. 

*****

In his nervousness Earl had completely forgotten to mention which theatre to go to. Luckily for him, there was only one, the Night Vale Duplex Cinema. Earl got there fifteen minutes before, and paced around, not caring that the employees were staring at him from behind the glass doors with inverted eyes. They probably thought he was a thug and were half way to calling the sheriff’s secret police. 

At five minutes before seven, he wondered if there was a payphone nearby that he could safely use. Surely Cecil just had something come up and couldn’t make it. That would be okay. Things happened. Or maybe his mom was just late or something. They could still make it. 

At seven exactly, he ran about looking for a payphone, as much as he could while still keeping an eye on the streets. He didn’t find one, which was just as well, since he didn’t have coins and payphones only took nickels after the City Council decreed so three years ago.

At twenty minutes past seven, he was openly glaring at the theatre attendants who were passing around money, obviously having concluded a bet. The winners gave him in a thumbs up and a gorilla shout.

He was just beginning to contemplate an escape plan that let him keep some of his dignity if Cecil never showed up when he recognized the car approaching.

“Thanks, Earl, and sorry, Mom,” Cecil said, stumbling out of the car. “I mean, sorry Earl! And yeah, thanks Mom, okay, bye!” Cecil shut the door behind him and waved at his mom to go. She smiled at him and waved to Earl before peeling off, tires screeching. 

“Are you bleeding?” Earl asked before Cecil had even gotten his breath back. There were patches of wetness on his sweater.

“Oh, this? No, it’s not blood. Just let me-” Cecil pulled the sweater off and turned it inside out before tying it around his waist. “It’s a long story. Just take my word and never try to mow the lawn on a Thursday.” 

“Got it,” Earl said instead of pointing out that it was Saturday and that Cecil’s lawn was rocks and decorative pieces of wood. On the other hand that might have explained it.

“And now we’re late for all of the good movies. I told my mom this would happen,” Cecil said with a heavy sigh, staring at the movie listings. He didn’t seem to notice that the movie attendants were shuffling money around, glaring and smiling in opposite measures now. Earl ignored them; his mom had always said that unauthorized betting was a sin and judging by how the secret police were vibrating, he figured they’d get their comeuppance without him having to utter a single curse to his bloodstone. 

“We could get something to eat and then come back?” Earl suggested. He’d been saving up for the imaginary popcorn that the movie theatre offered, but he’d always make room for that. 

“Sure! What’s around here? Usually I just go straight inside the theatre,” Cecil said, craning his neck to look around, as if surprised to see the other buildings. Buildings did occasionally sprout out of seemingly nowhere in Night Vale, after all.

“If we’re careful we should be able to explore,” Earl said, mentally preparing for all possible risks. He had a few things on hand, like a mini first aid kit, his pocket knife, a bottle of snake tongues; the usual things you carried around on hand. But since it’d been a date, he’d left most of his knives at home in exchange for mints and gum.

Thoughts of danger and proper exploration safety fled his mind as Cecil easily moved over to link arms with him. Earl could feel himself flushing red, though he made no attempt to pull away. This close he could smell the faint hint of just cut grass and motor oil.

“Lead the way, Mr. Eagle Scout,” Cecil said, eyebrows waggling. 

Earl struggled for words and settled for a nod. He didn’t actually move till Cecil nudged him along. They passed by a cobbler and a karate studio before stopping in front of a building with no title, though the lights were on and people were moving about. It turned out to be a shoe store, to which they couldn’t decide if it was genius or pure folly, being so close to a cobbler. 

The next shop was empty, though Earl swore he heard people talking. They steered clear of it since neither of them knew much about disembodied voices. The pretzel shop next door was freezing, but when they stepped out with their fresh baked bread, they both agreed it was worth freezing for, even as they brushed bits of ice out of their hair. 

The next two shops were closed, though from what they could see after having pressed their faces right up against the glass wall of one, it looked like a loan shop. Or a musical studio. It was hard to tell in the dark. 

The second largest shop in the plaza was a music store, and even though they’d been holding hands, they still managed to get lost. It took Earl all of his scout training to find Cecil going around in circles in the smooth jazz section. 

“We should probably go check the movie listings,” Earl said. He didn’t try to get up from where they were sitting against the wall of an empty lot that was being advertised for lease. He could still hear percussion instruments in his head. 

“Yeah, we probably should.” Cecil ran his thumb over Earl’s knuckles, leaning against his shoulder a little more instead of also getting up. 

Earl was about to mention one of the movies he’d been somewhat eyeing when Cecil shifted, his face suddenly close and in front of his. Before he could become awkward about it, Cecil kissed him. Earl didn’t move and when Cecil drew back, his eyes were wide open in shock. 

Cecil looked him over then chuckled. The sound snapped through Earl a little and jarred him out of his stupor.

“What?” Earl asked.

“Am I your first kiss?” Cecil asked. 

Earl flushed. 

“Uh. Yeah. Was it-? Was it obvious?” 

“A little,” Cecil admitted. He caught the look of panic and mortification in Earl’s eyes and began flailing his limbs, nearly hitting Earl in the face. “No, no, no! Not like that! Not in a bad way! It’s great! It really is! You’re going to have so much fun learning how to kiss properly!” 

“Oh. Um.” 

“I’ll teach you,” Cecil said, bright and ready to pounce on him. “By the end of tonight you’ll be a great kisser!” 

If there had been a Kissing Badge he would have earned it by the end of the night. As it was they never got to the movie after all. 

*****

No one picked up the phone. If it wasn’t Cecil, it was usually Mrs. Palmer who picked up, and then fifteen minutes later Cecil would rush into the room, apologizing for the wait, but you know moms, they never want to let you talk on the phone. Always convinced its an omen or sign. On the rare occasion his brother would pick up, and he’d always try to tell some embarrassing story about Cecil. Earl didn’t usually understand the howling, but based on Cecil’s reactions to tackle the phone out of his hands, he guessed that’s what was happening.

But this time there was no answer. He set the phone down and tried again, listening to the dial tone. 

“Dad, are the phone lines working?” 

“Planets are the eyes of the universe,” his dad answered in a monotone. He twitched once, then went back to watching tv. 

So that was a yes. Earl stared at the phone for a moment longer.

“Hey Dad, can I go see Cecil?”

“The walls greet you ever so patiently.”

Earl went over to ask his mom.

“Dad said if you said it was okay then I could go visit Cecil?” 

His mother paused and thought for a moment. Then she stopped moving entirely. Earl waved his hand in front of her face carefully and sighed. The radio had mentioned there were still lingering spots of time freezing suddenly left over from the government mandated earthquake from last week. He went over and turned off the microwave, unplugging it just to be on the safe side. 

“Mom said it was fine,” he called out to his dad as he went out the front door. His dad unscrewed the light bulb from the lamp and threw it against the wall in response. 

Earl patted his bike, waiting until it purred to take the chain off, and headed to the Desert Creek development. Everyone called it the new development even though it had been around since as long as anyone could remember. Earl biked up and down the streets, looking for Cecil’s house. No matter how many times he circled around, it was gone. It was right there but it was definitely not there. 

But if Cecil’s home wasn’t there, then where was Cecil? Where was the Palmer family? 

Earl stopped at the corner of the street. Hopefully Cecil was okay. And he’d eventually have to come back to school. He’d already missed a week, and everyone remembered him, so it couldn’t have been a kidnapping from the sheriff's secret police, or an order from the City Council. 

Earl biked back home, stopping by the Ralph’s to pick up some ingredients to offer as a sacrifice for Cecil’s safe return. He’d have to ask the secret police about the best herbs to use when he got home, if his mother was still stuck in the time loop. 

*****

“Cecil!” Earl didn’t care that he half shouted, causing the kids in the classroom to stare at him for a moment before returning to enjoy their seven and a half minutes between classes. 

Cecil waved at him as he set his books on his desk.

“Cecil, where have you been? You were gone for weeks.” Earl went up and while he’d had every intention of going to hug him, something made him stop. Instead he hovered at the edge of his desk, frantically scanning Cecil, as if trying to figure out what had happened. 

“I’m okay,” Cecil said, smiling at him, shrugging a little. “The Secret Police made sure I was safe in the hospital.”

“But why were you in the hospital?” 

“I wasn’t in the hospital.” 

Earl blinked in frustration. 

“But you’re okay, right?” 

“Yup,” Cecil said, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet before sliding into his chair. “Totally okay.” 

Earl didn’t believe him for a moment. 

“Do you want to come over and study later today then at my place? I-I could help you with your math, help you catch up?” 

“Can’t,” Cecil said, still with that same smile. It was not quite a smile. An unsmile. It made Earl want to run home and rip the legs from the table. But he knew that wouldn’t help anything. “I’ve got a job.”

“A job?” 

“Yup. An internship.” 

There was only one place to get an internship in Night Vale. Earl swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. Everyone knew what happened to interns. It was an honorable position, a noble way to die or disappear. But a definitive end, much too early, and much too often. 

“Sorry,” Cecil said, his mouth widening. It would have been a slightly bigger smile once. Now Earl didn’t know what it was. 

“That’s...great. Congrats. When did this happen?” Earl racked his brain, trying to remember if he’d missed a day. Maybe he’d also gotten stuck in the time loop. His mother had been stuck for a day and a half, and she’d been really upset over having missed some of her favorite shows. 

“Oh, you know, time isn’t the important thing. It’s about quality! That’s what Leonard says. At least, I think that’s what he says. It’s kind of hard to understand him sometimes, with Station Management’s shrieking.” 

Earl heard the bell ring and the students filtering into their seats. He tried to smile for Cecil; he’d always liked the radio. This was a good thing. It had to be. 

“Stop by the chemistry room for lunch, okay?” Earl said. 

Cecil smiled and Earl got the feeling that this was to be his new normal smile. He went back to his desk before waiting for an answer. He wasn’t surprised when Cecil didn’t show up for lunch.

*****

“Hey, Cecil, it’s Earl. Yeah. Call me back.” 

Earl hung up the phone and stared at it. It had been weeks since they’d talked on the phone. Cecil spent lunch somewhere else, though when asked about it, he just answered that he’d always eaten lunch. 

The last time he’d spoken to him in class, Cecil had replied that he had a lot of homework and tests to make up because of his absence. Since he had a job, the only time he had was during lunch, you understand, Earl. 

He didn’t know if he had imagined the testiness in his voice or if it had been real. 

“You’ve been calling the wrong number,” the refrigerator said. 

Earl blinked and turned to it.

“Excuse me, sir?”

The refrigerator rumbled and the secret police spoke up a little louder. “It’s not against the law to mix up numbers but it’s very rude to the new inhabitants of the house. This is a warning.”

“I... what?” 

“You’re a minor, of course, so you wouldn’t get into too much trouble. But it still wouldn’t look good on your record.”

Earl looked back at the phone. 

“Sorry about that.”

“No problem. And hey, congrats on the new badge! What was it, something something chivalry?” 

“Proper Utensil Placement,” Earl said, and thanked the police officer before going to his room. It wasn’t anymore private but he needed to lie on his bed and try to mentally will time to skip back a few months.

Cecil would have loved to join him. He would have pointed out the best way to get time stopped would be through a permit from the City Council and they could have fake planned a way to forge it, culminating in listening to the radio. 

Earl went into his room and before collapsing onto the bed, ripped his stereo out of the wall and tossed it into the trash can. 

*****

“Cecil.” 

Earl couldn’t help but say his name as he entered the room. Boy Scout meetings had switched to being held in the office building rooms of the church, instead of the scrublands or the vacant lot behind the Ralph’s. 

Cecil looked up and the grin he gave him took him back to sophomore year, nearly a decade ago. There were talks of the reunion and the scouts had already started throwing ideas around on the off chance that they were asked to perform. 

“Earl. How are you? I was just interviewing Scoutmaster Karl. You guys made a new record for the Knot Swallowing, congrats!” 

“Thanks.” Cecil didn’t seem to notice that Earl didn’t say much more. He was busy putting his equipment away. There were microphones and tape recorders, all whizzing and humming until Cecil turned them off and slipped them into black plastic bags. “How have you been?”

“Good! I got trapped in the library the other day for a little longer than expected. Of course, that’s understandable; sometimes the librarians just box you in. But I’m playing catch up to get back on track.” 

He wanted to say that was a shame and to wish him good luck. Instead he said “we should have lunch sometime.”

“Oh we should. I’ve been so busy with the radio, and well, you look like you’ve been busy with the scouts. But we should totally hang out and catch up! How about bowling? I sometimes go on Tuesdays. We’ve got a team, you know! Old Woman Josie is always trying to get new people to join, she’d love it if you could stop by.” 

“That sounds great.” Earl had meetings that night. Maybe Cecil knew that, maybe he didn’t. The invitation was as empty as Earl’s words. Or maybe, maybe it was just a social nicety. “I’ll see if I can make it.” 

Cecil nodded, a polite smile on his face, then he finished zipping up his bag and gave him a mock salute. 

“Well, gotta get these tapes ready. The show must go on, and all.”

“Cecil.” He wanted to say a million things, to ask what had happened, to see if maybe, just maybe, there was a chance they could be friends again. Cecil turned and smiled blankly at him, and Earl couldn’t bring himself to try again. Not when it was clearly so pointless. “I...hope we hear you on the radio soon. We’re all rooting for you.” 

Cecil beamed, thanked him, and left. Earl began clearing the chalk boards and pushing the desks and chairs away, the low dull ache in his chest quickly dissipating. Cecil had left Earl a long time ago. And he had a meeting to focus on.


End file.
